I would forget about the cheap telephoto lenses that come bundled wıth cameras and look at another lens. If you are on a budget and you want a canon camera the canon 70-200 f4 non IS is a very good optıon and ıs only around £400.

I agree with the others, just get the body and the kit lens (the 18-55), and put the money that you saved towards a new telephoto lens. Both Canon and Nikon make some great telephoto lenses, but in general Canon has a more robust selection. If you go Canon, you may want to look into the 70-300mm (both the non-L and L versions good lenses), the 70-200 f/4 or even the 300mm f/4. There's also the 400mm f/5.6, which isn't as fast as the 300mm, but costs less and gives you extra range only achievable with a teleconverter. If you decide to go Nikon, they make an inexpensive and sharp 70-300 as well, but no 70-200 f/4 (there have been rumors, however). For a Nikon 70-200 you'll need to go for a 70-200 f/2.8 VR, which is very expensive compared to Canon's 70-200 f/4. You could also look at Nikon's 300mm f/4, which is cheaper than Canon's offering, but doesn't include any sort of image stabilization. Nikon doesn't make a 400mm f/5.6.

Hey guys,
First off I want to thank everyone for their help on this site, its by far one of the best forums (websites) I've used in a long time.

Taking into account the above what do you think of:
A EOS 600d with a Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Mk II with a Hoya 58mm Super HMC Multi-Coated UV Filter.
This comes to 1200euro (50 more than the other options above).

I'm told that IS and a filter are musts in the aircraft.

Anything else you would recommend? I have a case and memory card already.
I'm in the hunt for a tutorial book for the 600d if anyone knows of a good one?
Thanks again
Dara

First of all, do you mean the 600D with or without the kit lens? I'd recommend getting it with the kit lens as otherwise you wouldn't have any coverage at the wider angles.
Otherwise, the 70-300 is a great lens (it gives equivalent coverage of about 110-480mm on an APS-C sized camera like the 600D, so coverage shouldn't be a problem. The 50mm 1.8 is an excellent lens for the price, and should work great for portraits with an equivalent focal length of 80mm.I can't comment too much on the Hoya filter as I don't know much about them (I generally use B&W filters) but as long as it's a high quality filter and not a cheapo $10 one, you should be fine. Remember that filters degrade the image quality, so make sure that it's the best quality that you can find.

Thanks for the feedback Evan I've since found the body and with the 300mm lens and the 18-55 IS II Lens Kit for 1100euro.
I picked the Hoya filter as they were recommended in the filters section of this site.
Is there anything else I should order with the kit so I dont end up ordering more a week after it arrives?